So Many Questions

Senior ANC leader and former chief whip Mathole Motshekga has called for an urgent meeting of the party’s national executive committee to consider calls for President Zuma to resign. Chris Barron asked him . . .

Why should the NEC meet so urgently to discuss the call for Zuma to go? Because it is the highest decisionmaking body of the ANC. Therefore, if any section of society raises matters of national interest the NEC has an obligation to meet and consider those matters, and answer to society what is their take on those issues.

Do you support the call for Zuma to go? I don’t want to venture into that. We have reached a stage where we must get the NEC to take responsibility for what is happening, and make the appropriate decision.

What would be an appropriate decision? It would be unfair to prejudge the issue because that would be undermining other members of the leadership.

What might happen if the NEC ignores the mood of the public? I don’t believe it can ignore the mood of the people because it derives its authority and mandate from the people.

So you believe it will support the call of the people for Zuma to go? If that matter is put on the table for discussion I believe the NEC will deal with it on the merits.

If you feel demands for Zuma to go are harming South Africa then surely you’d want the NEC to support these demands? We should not prejudge what the NEC would say. But I believe it consists of solid leadership who know what is in the best interests of the country and will deal with the matter rationally.

Aren’t most of them in the pockets of Zuma and the Guptas? There are such perceptions but I don’t have the evidence to that effect. So for me it is immaterial whether people line the pockets of other people . . .

If their pockets are being lined then surely their votes will reflect this, rather the will of the people? That may perhaps have been the case before the latest events, which are clearly calling on everybody who understands the source of the authority we have as being the people, to decide whether to put the interests of the people and the country first, or their private interests. I believe they will understand that the time for private interests is over. Now we have got to minister to the interests of the country as a whole.

What makes you think the NEC will change the position it took on Zuma last year? The circumstances then are not the same as the circumstances now. I think if the matter is put on the table

now it will be reconsidered in the light of the current situation.

How have circumstances changed?

If you follow the demands being made by the marchers in all the cities and the areas, those demands are very clear.

If the NEC ignores them will it make the situation even worse? Let’s give the ANC an opportunity to deal with the matter. Obviously there will be an outcome, and then we can talk about the implications of that outcome.

Would it be fair to say you have been a loyal supporter of Zuma until now? I have been a supporter of the ANC.

Not of the president? I support the decisions of the organisation and the leadership.

No matter what they are?

Where I feel the decisions leave much to be desired I do what I’ve done now, to call for a meeting of the NEC to review its decisions.

Why didn’t you make this call after Nkandla? Circumstances change from time to time and they’ve changed now, and they require leadership from the ANC which it is capable of giving.

Isn’t it precisely because the ANC failed to give leadership that you made your call? If the NEC fails we can say the ANC has failed. But the NEC has not dealt with the matter yet and therefore we can’t say the ANC has failed.

Will the ANC lose in 2019 if it fails to act decisively on Zuma now? The ANC knows what is in its interests and the interests of the people and the country.

So why did it allow Zuma to fire his best minister and keep his worst? Is that in the interests of the country? I don’t know the reasons so I can’t express an opinion on that.

Is there a danger of the ANC losing the next elections? No. Because when people protest they raise issues. They raise them for the ANC to address. The ANC has the capacity to address the issues raised. Therefore there will be no grounds to take the ANC out of government.

Are you scared they’ll lose? Is this why you want the NEC to meet so urgently? I’m not acting out of fear. I’m acting out of the recognition that the ANC derives its mandate from the people, and therefore when the people raise concerns the ANC must consider those concerns. The highest body that can do that is the NEC.